The Search
by JC785
Summary: Deep in the Atlantic Ocean, a once grand city has been lost from the world. It is now a city of drugs and lost sanity. Mark Meltzer went down to find his daughter who was taken from him, but did not return. Now, his son must go down to Rapture and find his family. Will the city of Adam take Billy like all others, or will he receive help from the deadliest hunter of the sea...


**The Search**

By: JC785

**Chapter 1: Arrival**

**Year: 1968**

**Somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean**

I stood at the base of the gigantic lighthouse that just loomed over me, like it was staring at me nonstop into my soul. It had to be at least twenty stories high, and at the top, a needle like object pointing to the sky, with a light spinning around slowly. I looked down at the map and the coordinates that I had pinned on. This was the place, it had to be. Dad went crazy after Cindy disappeared in the night and started researching this until he was falling asleep at his desk. My mom and he got a divorce, so I went to live with her, since she didn't want me near him. Three months after he went somewhere in the Atlantic, we got a report form a Navy officer. He said that the sub dad was on was lost with all hands. My mom started to go into hysteria, and she now spends her days looking out her bedroom window in her mother's rocking chair. I refused to believe he was dead, so I went to his Montauk vacation home in the dead of night, where he had set up his own investigation. I looked through all his papers, but most of them were just scribbles and other stuff.

Just as I was about to give up, I saw a map in the pile of papers. I pulled it out, and discovered it was a map of the Atlantic Ocean, with lines and locations all over, eventually pointing to one specific location, the one where I am now. I paid a guy to take me out to here, and it was NOT cheap. I couldn't pay him enough to get back, so this was a one-way trip.

I, Billy Meltzer, was determined to find my dad and my sister, no matter what the cost.

In my dad's notes, he said the thing that took Cindy was a creature with a red eye. I had no idea what that kind of thing was, so I had to be prepared. I had found a gun in my dad's place, so I took that before I left.

I slowly walked into the giant doors, darkness filling the room where I entered. Once I was all the way in, the doors shut behind me. I was in total darkness, and all I could here was me breathing. The light came on in a flash, blinding me momentarily. When I could see again, I saw a giant statue on a man's upper torso, who looked to be in his mid-forties or fifties, staring down at me angrily. On the walls were gates that had words on them, like Science and Art. I walked down the spiral-like staircase in front of me, to come to a round object that looked like something from a sci-fi movie.

I walked in carefully, and hoped nothing happened to me. As I looked inside, all I saw were some seats, a holder for something, maybe a radio, and a lever. I assumed this lever would take me to where ever I needed to go, so I pulled it. The pods doors closed and the thing started to descend. There were markings on how many fathoms down I was going. As I reached 20 fathoms, a screen came down, and a presentation started play, with some music in the background.

_"I am Andrew Ryan, and I am here to ask you a question. Is a man not entitled to the sweat of his brow?"_ I just stood there, pondering who the man was, then what he meant by his question.

"_No, says the man in Washington, it belongs to the poor."_

"_No, says the man in the Vatican, it belongs to God."_

"_No, says the man in Moscow, it belongs to everyone."_

I started to realize what he was saying. He was saying that if a man created something, it should be his or hers, not anyone else's.

"_I rejected those answers. Instead, I chose something different. I chose the impossible. I chose... __**Rapture**__._

The screen pulled up, and the lights of an underwater city started to fill the pod with a holy like glow. Towers that reached underwater sky highs, all of them connected by rails or tunnels or wires. Some looked like they were brand new still; others looked like they were flooded and were leaning on one another. Human-like creatures walked through some of the tubes, but they looked distorted. I just went up to the glass, staring out into possible the greatest possible creation ever, thinking, how can something like this be done?

"_A city where the artist would not fear the censor, where the scientist would not be bound by petty morality, where the great would not be constrained by the small."_

A whale went by the glass, and then a giant squid. I just couldn't believe it. Something like this shouldn't, no, can't exist. It's impossible.

"_And with the sweat of your brow, Rapture can become your city, as well." _Just as Ryan finished saying this, the pod pulled into a long docking station. Once it was all the way in, it started to go up to who knows where. When I got all the way up, there was nothing but darkness again. And once again, the lights came on in a flash, and welcome music started to play. When the light dimmed, I could see confetti coming down and a big banner the said, "Welcome to Rapture".

The pods doors slowly opened, letting in the air from Rapture's environment. Once they opened all the way, the music stopped. I was expecting someone, anyone even, to be waiting. But there was nothing. Not a single sound except for some water dripping, and maybe a fire in the distance. I came out slowly with the pistol in my hands. I had never fired one before, but I figured, it would be a pretty good time to learn.

I was in a yellow room with paint coming off the walls, and some support beams coming out of them. I looked to my right and I saw that was the only door in the room, so I walked towards it and tried to open it. But something was blocking it from the other side, so I had to force it some more. When I got the door open some more, I was finally able to wiggle through, only to come to even more destruction than the last room. There were suitcases that blocked the door, trash cans that had been set on fire, trash everywhere, and a pod that looked like the one that I came in on, only this one was on fire.

When I pushed the suitcases out of the way, something fell out of one of them. I looked down and saw it was one of my dad's audio logs, like the ones he used back on the surface. I picked it up, played it, and I could hear my dad's voice once more. "_Barely made it down alive, but here it is, and it's real. Rapture. This is where that thing took my... my poor baby girl. From what I saw in the sub, most of the city's in ruins. But there were lights here and there. And shapes, moving... I'm rambling. Scared, I guess. But maybe, if I find this "Doctor Lamb" I keep hearing over the P.A... I'll find Cindy too."_

It was comforting to hear his voice again after so long. It was also good to know he was looking for Cindy. But there was something else I was curious about. Who was this Doctor Lamb? I would just have to figure it out later. I tucked the radio into the book bag I had brought along with me and started moving out of the area.

…

I came up to a plaza like area after a while. While this place was bigger than the others, there was even more destruction here. More luggage was everywhere, even more fires, and it looks like a fight recently occurred here. There were explosive marks on the ground, bullet holes the size of my thumb, and places where the tile was cracked like a crater impacting. I looked at one of the bullet holes, dug around inside it, and pulled out a rivet. This was really confusing to me, cause how can a bolt this size dig that deep in the ground. When I looked to my left, there was water coming out of the door, so I decided not to go that way.

As I kept looking around, I came up to a bar, and I found another audio log, only this one wasn't from my dad, it was from Andrew Ryan. I played it just out of curiosity. "_(Short sigh) Diane insisted that we spend a weekend at the Adonis, and already I find myself seeking a respite from my vacation. When she deems it necessary to chide me for working, the words dissolve into an endless, animal bleat. I founded Rapture to be free of law and god... to live among those for whom work is our wage! Yet, when Diane speaks of bearing my child... I am given pause. Until now, I had never considered my legacy. Perhaps... perhaps after the New Year..." _I had to give this one even more thought. Did Ryan even have a child, and if so, was he here in the city, and could I find him? I set the tape back down since I didn't want extra weight.

I kept looking around some more, until I came to a shoe shining area, with the ocean right in full view. But what interested me most was the huge ass gun leaning against one of the chairs. The middle section was like a cylinder, with gears at the top that pushed a pole into the muzzle of the gun. I took a closer look at it, and there was writing on the side. '**Rivet Gun: ****A**** Model**' it said. What is an 'A Model'? It would have to wait, because out of nowhere, I heard small footsteps, then what sounded like a little girl singing. I panicked and pulled out my gun, but I was a bit happy at the same time, because it could be Cindy.

I went to the corner of the bar, and then edged my way across the wall of the broken staircase. As I got close to the noise, it was sounding weird; like it was distorted in a way. When reached the other end, I poked my head around to try to get a better look.

This little girl was not Cindy. Cindy had brown hair and she hated dresses. This girl was blonde and was wearing a bright blue dress. But the weirdest thing was the big yellow eyes that she had. They just took over all over eye, like a demon possessed her. She also had a syringe in her hand and was draining something out of the corpse she stood over. Suddenly, she seemed startled and started to look around, like she was trying to find the thing that frightened her. Her eyes finally locked onto me and they didn't move from my location. I had no choice but to step out and they to act calm. "Um… Hi there. Are you ok?" I said as I tried to approach her slowly.

When I got just a bit closer, the little girl started to scream. I was frightened by then, then tried to calm her down. "It's ok, it's ok. I'm not going to hurt you." I said. She just continued to scream, and it was scaring me even more now, because the screams were just echoing all around. Suddenly, I heard the horrible screeching noise like a fork being scraped against glass. The lights in the room started to flicker in and out, some of them bursting, creating sparks. I looked all around, wondering where the screeching was coming from, but at the same time, I didn't want to know.

A figure appeared out of nowhere on the broken balcony. It was in a skinny diver's suit, with a cage and an oxygen tank on the outside. The cage had a bunch of pink ribbons on it, and the O2 tank had a some drawings on it. It also had a large syringe on its left arm, with some red liquid that wasn't blood in a glass container. The last think was the big glowing light coming from its portholes. I realized then this was the creature that dad had talked about.

The monster jumped from the balcony with great strength and landed right next to me. I tried to turn around and run, but the creature just grabbed me and threw me at a wall. As I tried to get my senses straight, I could feel blood rushing down my head, also, the creature right above me, and when I finally looked up, it had its long, big needle pointed straight at me. I wrapped my legs in my arms, crying softly, and waiting for the end.

Only it never came. I slowly lifted my head up, and saw the creature just looking at me, the red in its helmet slowly turning yellow, and then a light blue. It crouched next to me, and touched the tears that fell down my face. I cringed at the touch, but eventually loosened up a bit.

It helped me to my feet, but I stumbled because of the blood lose. The creature took a moment to think, then motioned for me to grab onto it. I was a bit skeptical, but I just went with it. It then leaped up and took us both through the upper support beams to who knows where. I blacked out somewhere along the way, still not knowing where we were going.

…

I opened my eyes slowly, not awake, nor asleep. I was in some kind of cross conscious state, where I could hear and see, but I couldn't move my head. I still didn't really know where I was or what had happened to me. I could see a trash can burning near me for warmth, and rail cars, like the ones in Los Angeles, only these ones didn't have wheels. Gears were moving everywhere, machinery noises were going, and what sounded like an elevator was starting. I saw an elevator to the right of me going up, and I caught a glimpse of a big creature with a gigantic drill for a hand. I just kept staring at it until it went out of view. The creature then walked from my left and went forward a bit. It stood by the fire for a moment, and then started to disconnect the tubes that went to its helmet. As it took the headgear off, I could see short, jet black hair. I couldn't tell if it was a boy or a girl, but I was sure it was human. It was then that my body decided to sleep again.

…

I woke up again at a later point. At that time, I really wished that I had a wristwatch. I looked down, and my clothes looked the same when I first got them, not torn and had blood stains from that fight. I felt the top of my head, and it appeared to have been bandaged. I winced a bit from the pain, but it wasn't that bad. I looked at my surrounding to see if anything was new. As it turned out, I probably got the biggest surprise ever since I got down here. The same person with the jet black hair, who turned out to be a girl, was lying next to me in a short white nightgown, asleep.

I tried to shift a bit, but that accidentally moved here a bit. Her eyes shot open, and she moved up slowly. We just stared at each other for about a minute, and then I decided to break the silence.

"…Uh… Hi there. I'm sorry if I did anything to piss…" I never got to finish, and the girl came up to me and started to hug me. I had no idea what to do, or how I should feel about the person that tried to kill me. So I did what I felt was natural. I hugged her back.


End file.
